Defibrating-machine.



Patented 0015.21, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH Co., WASHINGTON, D. c`

J. P. RICHARDSON. DEFYIBRATING MACHINE.

- PPLIOATION FILED SEPT. z2, 1919. EENEWED SEPT. a, 191s. 1,0'76,1 5 1 lPatented Oct. 21, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UTE STATS 1J JAMES P. RICHARDSON, OF MANILA, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS,ASSIGNOR TO ARTHUR P; OBRIEN, OF NET YORK, 1\l'. Y.

DEFIBRATING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patenten oet. ai, wie?.

Application filed' September 22, 1910, Serial No. 583,251. RenewedSeptember 8,. 1913. Serial No. 788,760.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that l, JAMESl P. RICHARD- SON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Manila, Philippine Islands,have invented a new and useful mprovement in Defibrating-Wachines, ofwhich the following is `a specification.

This invention Vrelates to animprovement in debrating `machines7Vparticularly tvo-that type used in removing the pulp from what is knownas Manila fiber.

Manila ber varies in length from five to twenty feet, and its commercialvalue depends partly upon the length of the fibers and partly upon theircleanliness; that is to say, the most valuable fiber isthat which-islong, unbroken and thoroughly cleaned by the removal of every particleof' pulp therefrom. In machines heretofore used for the purposeofremoving the pulp from the fiber, a gripper has been employed fordragging a plant section through the machine and over one or moreScrapers. The strength of the bers is not suiticient to enable Vthem towithstand without breakage the direct hard pull set up by the gripperwhen a number of Scrapers are used, and the resultant product of themachine is more or less broken and more or less pulp adheres. to theibers, reducing its value. In stripping the ber from the plant sectionby hand, it is customary to draw the plant section across a stationaryknife, a little at a time, renewing the hand grip after each drawingaction. In hand stripping, clean fiber may be obtained without dangerlof breaking or shortening the bers. But hand stripping is slow, andobjectionablefor thisr reason..

The main objects of the present invention are the production of asimple, compact high capacity machine in which every particle of pulp isremoved from the fiber and the liber left long and clean by an actionsomewhat simulating that of a hand stripper; that is to say by repeatedshort pulls over the Scrapers.

lith these and other objects not specicall'y mentioned in view, theinvention consists. in certain constructions and combinations whichywill be hereinafter fully described and then. specifically pointed outin the claims hereunto appended.

In the accompanying drawings which form `a. part of this specificationand in which like characters of reference indicate the same parts,Figure 1 is a plan view of a device constructed in accordance with theinvention, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1,Fig. 3 is a secythe sera-pers, Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of .oneof the scraper sections showing the gripper in the act of passing thes-ame, and 7 is an enlarged detail plan view of the forwarding gripper.

n carrying the invention into effect, there is provided a frame whichmay vary within wide limits. As shown, however, two sideV frames 1 and 2are employed. Theseside frames are spaced apart by means of bolts 3suitably secured to t-he frame. The frames are further spaced apart andheld so spaced by two curved plates d and 5, one at either end. of theframe.

For the purpose of forwarding a plant section to be stripped through themachine, there is provided' a forwarding gripper, and this gripper mayvary within wide limits. In the device selected to illustrate theinvention, however, the forwarding gripper consists of two; jaws 6 and 7hinged together by means of a pintle 8 engaging lugs 9 formed on the jaw 6 and lugs 10 formed on the jaw The gripping faces of these jaws/areundulating in formv so. that a perfect grip may behad on the materialforwarded. The jaws are normally held together by means of a spring 11coiled around the pintle 8 in a well known manner.

Any suitable means may be employed for producing the forwarding movementof the gripper. As. shown, the jaw Z is provided with. four laterallyproj ect-ing lugs 12 which are screwed or otherwise fastenedY toop-posite links of a pair of chains 13. The chains lpass over sprockets14, 15,16 and 17, respectively mounted on shafts 18, 19, 20 and 21, allof which are j ournal'ed in the side frames 1 and 2. The chains alsopass over the curved plates t and 5 at opposite ends of thev machine.The shaf'tslQ and 20 project through the side frame l and are providedwith bevel gears 22 and 231 respectively. These gears4 are in mesh withbevel pinions 221 and 25, both fast on a shaft 26 which is the mainpowershaft ofthe machine, and is provided with a driving pulley 27.Similarly, the shafts 1S and 2l project through the side frame 1 and areprovided with bevel gears 2S and 29 which mesh respectively with bevelpinions 30 and 31, both fast on a shaft 32 parallel with and above themain shaft 2G. rllhe shaft 32 is provided with a spur gear 33 in meshwith an idle gear 34 loose on a stud secured to a bracket 36 on theframe l. The idle gear is also in mesh with a spur gear 37 fast on themain shaft 26. rThe shaft 26 is mounted in bearings 38, and the shaft 32in bearings 39, all fast to the side frame 1. By the structure justdescribed, it will be readily understood that the gripper is given acontinuous Jforwarding movement in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 3.1t is to be understood, however, that in certain constructions withinthe invention, a` continuous movement of the forwarding gripper isunnecessary. Material to be forwarded by the gripper is placed thereinat the right end of the machine, the gripper being opened by handagainst the action of the spring 11 to receive it. 1t may be hereremarked that the chains are spaced apart a sufficient distance, and thegripper is wide enough, to take and forward simultaneously three stripsor sections of plant; that is to say, the gripper is about 24 incheswide. Since the material is fed into the machine at the right end andfirst moves along the upper run of the chains, the upper run of thechains will be hereinafter referred to as the forwarding run of thechains, and the lower run of the chains will be referred to as thereturn run of the chains.

For the purpose of relieving the gripper of a part of the strain inJforwarding the material so that danger of breaking the fiber will beeliminated, there is provided an auxiliary forwarding device, orplurality of auxiliary forwarding devices, and this device or thesedevices may vary within wide limits. As shown, however, a plurality ofauxiliary forwarding devices are employed, and these devices arearranged to operate in separated fixed positions, by mechanism and forreasons that will presently appear. ln the device selected to illustratethe invention, there are five of these auxiliary forwarding devices,each comprising a set of four, or two pair of coperating rollers, andall alike. Since these devices are all alike, a description of one isdeemed suflicient to enable the invention to be thoroughly understood,and a detailed description of the others will therefore be omitted inthe interest of brevity and clearness. Each of the auxiliary forwardingdevices includes a pair of cooperating rollers i0 and 41 mountcd onshafts l2 and 13 respectively. Each device further includes a secondpair of rollers at and 45 located after the first pair and mounted onshafts i6 and i7 respectively. The rollers Ll0, 4:1, 44 and Ll5 arerespectively provided with cut away portions 48, 49, 50 and 5l, the cutaway portions of each pair being arranged to register, and the cut awayportions of the two pair being arranged so that while the gripper ispassing between one pair, the other pair is in engagement with thematerial behind the gripper, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. rlrhe shafts42, 43, 46 and i7 project through the side frame 1 and carryrespectively gear wheels 52, 53, 54; and r1`he gear wheels 52 and 53 arein mesh and the face of the wheel 52 is provided with a bevel gear 56 inmesh with a bevel pinion 57 on the shaft 32. Similarly, the gear wheels51k and 55 are in mesh and the face of the wheel 54 is provided with abevel gear 58 in mesh with a bevel pinion 59 on the shaft 32. The geartrains of all the auxiliary forwarding devices are alike and derivetheir motion from the shafts 26 and 32, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and2. 1t is thought to be unnecessary to repeat the description of thesetrains, and separate descriptions of each are therefore omitted. By aninspection of Fig. 3, it will be readily understood that the cut awayportions of the several pairs of rollers are so positioned and timedthat they will register to permit the passage of the gripper at theproper time. rlhe first set of rollers; that is to say, the set in theupper right hand corner in F ig. 3, operates not only as an auxiliaryforwarding device but also as a crushing device tending` to loosen thefibers from the pulpy parts of the material operated upon. This crushingdevice differs in no way from the other auxiliary forwarding devices.

For the purpose of removing the pulp from the liber of the materialpassed through the machine, there is provided a series of Scrapers onefor engaging the material behind each auxiliary forwarding device, andthese scrapers may vary within wide limits. As shown, however, eachscraper includes a pla-in knife GO and cooperating block 6l, and aserrated knife 62 and coperating block G3, which are arranged to besuccessively swung apart by the gripper during the forwarding movementof the same. To this end, there is provided a pair of rods Ga journaledin the side frames 1 and 2. To the lower rod 611 is secured a frame 65having upwardly proe jecting arms 6G to which is pivoted a knife supportG7. This support is normally held in the position relative to the frame66 shown in Fig. 6 by means of a flat return bend spring 63. A pin 69engaging a slot 70 in the arm 66 limits the movement of the knifesupport and knife relative to the arm G6. The arm G6 is further providedwith a lever 71 adapted to engage the gripper and prevent the latterfrom iiijuring the knife while passing the scraper, as clearly shown inFig. 6. spring 72 serves to normally hold the arm 66against a stop 73secured to the frame of the machine. Similarly, the block 61 coperatingwith the knife 60 is carried by asupport 74 mounted on arms 75 carriedby the V`upper rod 64. A spring 76 serves to normally hold the arms 75against a stop 7S secured to the frame of the machine. By an inspectionof Fig. 6, it will be readily I understood ythat the gripper, during itsforwarding movement, will swing the knife and coperating block out ofthe way and against the action 'of the springs T2 and 7 6. After thegripper has passed, the knife and block will be returned by the springsto their normal positions in engagement with the material forwarded. Theknife will operate to strip pulp from the under side of the plantsection in the machine. The serrated knife 62 and its cooperating block63 are mounted in precisely the same manner as the plain knife and itscooperating block just described. A detailed description of the secondknife mounting is therefore omitted in the interest of brevity. It maybe here remarked that the object of the plain knife and its cooperating`block is to roughly remove -pulp from the plant section as a whole,while the object of the serrated knife and its cooperating block is toseparate the fibers after the bulk of the pulp has been removed by theplain knife. The repeated action of the several Scrapers serves toentirely remove all pulp and to cleanly separate the fibers.

By an inspection of Fig. 3, it will be readily understood that there isa scraping mechanism or scraper behind each of the auxiliary forwarding`devices, that it is the auxiliary forwarding devices rather than thegripper which bears the greater part of the strain of the materialagainst the Scrapers, thus relieving the gripper of a partof its load,and that the pulp may be scraped cleanly from the fiber by the repeatedactions of the several forwarding devices and Scrapers without danger ofbreaking the fiber. The plant section is ordinarily fed into the machinepulp side down, so that the Scrapers located in the path of theforwarding run of the chains remove the pulp from the fiber on one side,while the Scrapers located in the path of the return run of the chainsscrape the thin outer skin from the other side of the plant.

In view of the foregoing, a detailed description of the operation of thedevice is deemed unnecessary and is therefore omitted in the interest ofbrevity.

Changes and variations may be made in the structure by means of whichthe invention is carried into effect. The invention,

warding devices operating in separated fixed positions each deviceincluding two pair of coperating rollers spaced apart and partially cutaway to permit the passage of the 1 gripper between them, and a seriesof Scrapers one for engaging the material behind each device.

A 2; In a defibrating machine, the combination with a continuouslytraveling forwarding gripper, of a series of auxiliary forwardingdevices operating in separated fixed positions each device including twopair of coperating rollers spaced apart and partially cut away, the cutaway portion of one pair being positioned to permit the passage of thegripper while the other pair is in engagement with the material, and aseries of Scrapers one for engaging the material behind each device.

3. In a defibrating machine, the combination with a pair of endlesschains, operating means for the chains, a gripper carried by the chains,a series of auxiliary forwarding devices operating in separated fixedpositions in the path of the gripper each device including two pair ofcooperating rollers spaced apart and partially cut away, the cut awayportion of one pair being positioned to permit the passage of thegripper between them while the other pair is in engagement with thematerial, and a series of Scrapers one for engaging the material behindeach device.

4. In a defibrating machine, the combination with a forwarding gripper,of a crushing mechanism including two pair of rollers spaced apart andpartially cut away the cut away portion of one pair being positioned topermit the passage of the gripper between them while the other pair isin engagement with material lying between them, an auxiliary forwardingdevice, and a scraper for engaging material behind the device.

5. In a deiibrating` machine, the combination with a forwarding gripper,of a series of auxiliary forwarding devices operating in separated fixedpositions, a scraper for engaging one side of material forwarded andlocated behind one of the devices, and a scraper for engaging the otherside of the material and located behind another of the devices.

6. In a defibrating machine, the combination with a pair of chains, ofoperating means for the chains, a gripper carried by the chains, meansincluding a knife and cooperating block in the path of the forwardingrun of t-he chains for scraping one side of material forwarded by thegripper, and means including a knife and cooperating block in the pathof the return run of the chains for scraping the other side of thematerial.

7. In a delibrating operating machine, the combination with acontinuously traveling forwarding gripper, of a series of auxiliaryforwarding devices operating` in separated fixed positions eachincluding two pairs of cooperating` rollers partly cut away to permitthe passage of the gripper the cut away parts of the two pairs ofrollers being arranged to permit the passage of the gripper through onepair while the other is in contact with the material operated upon, anda series of Scrapers one engaging the material behind each device.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my naine to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES P. RICHARDSON.

Witnesses:

SYDNEY I. PRESCOTT, FRANK H. Vroni, Jr.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

